by Dr. Larry Ollison, Ph.D. 

There are two plans for your life. Did you know that? That’s right. God has a plan and the prince of darkness has a plan. And the choice is yours.

Now with that in mind, let’s explore a possibility. Let’s say that you choose God’s plan. You decide to make Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life and seek Him first in all you do. You do your best to keep in faith and you do your best to not fall into sin. You attend church and you give your tithe joyfully to the Lord’s work as He leads. Now let me ask you this. Because you are doing all these things, because you have chosen to serve God, does Satan give up on you? Does Satan say to himself, “Well, I guess this Christian has decided to serve God completely, so I guess I’ll just give up on this one. Okay demons, back off this Christian. He’s serving God.”

Well, of course not. Satan is relentless. He doesn’t give up. He knows that one Spirit-filled Christian, walking in faith, can deal a severe blow to his kingdom. Even though Satan has been defeated and his destiny has been sealed, he doesn’t believe it. According to Jesus in John 8:44, Satan is a liar. He must believe his own lies because he still attempts to win. 

The Bible tells that we are to not be ignorant of his devices. Even though he is relentless, he still uses the same old methods. His methods haven’t changed in 2000 years. And we know from the Word of God that he doesn’t give up just because someone is seeking the truth, or just because we are Christians.

When Jesus was tempted by Satan, Jesus quoted the Word. Satan was defeated in this exchange of events but the Bible tells us something very interesting about the nature of Satan. The Bible says that after Jesus spoke the Word and Satan left, that he didn’t leave without a plan. He just retreated for a little while and waited for another opportunity to attack. The Bible says he left and waited for a more opportune time to return.

Now, here’s the good news. We have been given authority over Satan and his entire kingdom of darkness. We as Christians have been given, by Jesus, the authority to remove the forces of darkness from our path anytime, anywhere. Of course, there are limits to our authority and conditions to our authority, but nevertheless we have been given authority and as Christians, we are a major threat to his kingdom.

Satan does not want you to know you have authority over him. He will attempt to distract you any way he can. If he can distract your thinking from the things that build faith, then he will render you ineffective, and that’s what he wants for you. He wants you neutralized in the spirit realm.

But, I have more good news. Satan doesn’t always get what he wants. The only way he can get to you, the only way he can distract you, the only way he can neutralize you, is if you let him. In this spiritual battle as a Christian, we have no excuses. Jesus has given us the tools. He has given us the authority. Do we use the authority? The choice is ours.